<<Print>>

One of the most memorable statements President Barack Obama of the United States of America made during a state visit to Ghana in 2009 was that, �Ghana needs strong institutions and not strong men�. It is for this matter that a Communications Member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has bemoaned the way and manner in which the biggest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is always quick to destroy people and institutions due to their self-interest. Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Gabby Assumeng backed his claim with a number of events that occurred in the past, starting with what he described as incessant attack on the Electoral Commission (EC) after the 2012 general elections. He also recounted the salvoes that were fired at some of the Supreme Court Judges during and after the landmark Supreme Court ruling, in which President Mahama was confirmed as the validly elected president. Again, Gabby Assumeng sited the condemnation of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for approving the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Private Equity Fund. Typical of the NPP, he said, �they (the NPP) took the Bank of Ghana to the cleaners. They almost wanted to say that the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was more or less controlled by the NDC members, and that cannot be true because Bank of Ghana is a state institution. It is not a political party and it is not a political institution�. However, what has prompted his reaction, to what he describes as the biggest opposition party�s hypocritical rebuke of everyone and every institution except themselves, is a well calculated attempt to discredit the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Doe Adjaho and by extension, bring the august House of Parliament into disrepute. ��they (the NPP) has now jumped onto the legislature after Ninety (90) of their members signed onto a petition to the Speaker that they want the House to be called from recess in order to look into the Fortiz and Merchant Bank deal. And when the Hon. Speaker ruled that because the case was in court, he was unable to allow a debate on the floor of the House, they (NPP) took him to the cleaners stating that he is not competent to be speaker of the House�. ��NPP made this claim forgetting the fact that Rt. Hon. Doe Adjaho had served as a Member of Parliament for more than 20 years. Why is it that the NPP does not want to respect any institution in the country? If it does not go for them, every institution is bad,� he asserted. The NDC Communicator further called on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to desist from such acts which, in his view, would only lead to disunity and a complete erosion of the public confidence Ghanaians have in state institutions because �democracy is build on institutions like the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Parliament�.